EDITORIAL: Kaepernick takes a stand by staying seated

“I cannot stand and sing the anthem,” the past-his-prime sports star said. “I cannot salute the flag; I know that I am a black man in a white world.”

In recent days, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick has been assailed for his decision to protest police brutality by sitting during the pregame performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” But the quote above isn’t from Kaepernick. Baseball hero Jackie Robinson wrote those words in his 1972 autobiography, “I Never Had It Made.”

COMMENTARY: The American flag talks back to Kaepernick

Robinson had been out of the game 15 years by that point; in fact, he died just before the book came out. But the phrase bristles with resentment of the racist treatment he endured when he broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier in 1947. Even 25 years later, he felt the sting of a sport and a country that had come to revere him while treating so many others as second-class citizens.

While Robinson is now nearly universally acknowledged for the very real progress he contributed to on and off the field, Kaepernick’s stance — and the backlash it’s engendered — shows America still has a long way to go in how it treats those who take up the task of nudging it toward a more perfect union. Seven decades after Robinson turned the other cheek, Kaepernick is still sticking his neck out. Not by refusing to play, not by rudely disrupting the pregame ritual, but by remaining seated and answering honestly when asked why.

“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” he said after Friday’s game.

Critics have said that Kaepernick should have stayed in line for a number of spurious reasons, including his $11.9 million salary, his underperformance on the field, a disputed remark for which he was fined in 2014 and, not least, because he decided to take a stand over police brutality, rather than black-on-black crime, adoption, veterans’ health care or any other subject that others would prefer.

Like it or not, he has used his platform to bring attention to a legitimate issue. Yet many seem more upset that a celebrity criticized police and, as they see it, disrespected the flag than by the fact that blacks, armed or not, are much more likely to be stopped, arrested, charged, assaulted and killed by police than their white counterparts. Although he didn’t start the conversation, Kaepernick has taken it to places that community organizers and clergy couldn’t reach. Frankly, it’s refreshing to hear an athlete use his voice for something other than spouting platitudes or selling sneakers.

Speaking out is risky — just ask Kaepernick, who acknowledged that not everyone is prepared to sacrifice their job or endorsements. Or Eagles rookie Myke Tavarres, who planned to sit during the anthem, only to change his mind after hearing from his agent and former coaches. Some players are happy to shut up, play the game and cash their checks. That’s their prerogative. But athletes who take heat for their beliefs — like Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali, Tommie Smith and John Carlos — are champions for change, remembered long after their records fall.

Kaepernick could lose his job, but time may well tell that he took a winning position by sitting down.